Explanation of Terms for the 1999 Census

1. Privately Owned Establishment

(1) An establishment is defined as a single physical location where an economic activity is conducted and, as a general rule, the following prerequisites are satisfied:

(a) An economic activity is carried out, under a single entity of management, at a certain fixed place, occupying a demarcated area. (b) The production or supply of goods and services is done on a continuing basis with the help of people and equipment.

In other words, an establishment is what is usually called a store, a factory, an office, a bank, a school, a hospital, a temple, a hotel, or the like.

(2) Privately owned establishment This is the state of organization of an establishment which is not owned by the national or local governments.

2. Change in Establishments

Existing establishment This represents an establishment which had been surviving at the same location since the date of the 1996 Census.

Newly organized establishment This represents an establishment which had been newly organized or had moved into the present location since the date of the 1996 Census.

Abolished establishment This represents an establishment which had moved to the different location or had been closed after the date of the 1996 Census.

3. Type of legal organization

Individual proprietorship This is the state of organization of an establishment which is not incorporated and is managed by an individual on his or her own. It includes establishments under the joint management of individuals.

Corporation This is the state of organization of an establishment which is legally incorporated under the law.

Company This is the state of organization of an incorporated establishment which is a stock company, a limited company, a limited or unlimited liability partnership, a mutual insurance company or a foreign company. A foreign company is a branch office or a smaller representative of a company which is founded in a foreign country, and which is registered according to the prescription of the Commercial Law. However, a company to which foreign capital is invested is not defined as a foreign company.

Non-company corporation (Corporation excluding company)

This is the state of organization of an incorporated establishment which is not a company. Religious juridical persons, cooperative associations, medical juridical persons, school juridical persons, corporate juridical persons and foundations. Public corporations and finance corporations are included in this category

Unincorporated association This represents an association which is not legally incorporated. Crime prevention associations, associations of scholars, groups of political supporters and trade unions are its examples.

4. Industrial classification for establishments

The industrial classification for an establishment is determined, by the nature of the main business activities of the establishment based on the largest share of the total income or the total sales over the past year, according to the Standard Industrial Classification for Japan revised in October 1993. Most of the establishments are classified into the minor industrial groups of the Classification, however, some of them are classified into the subdivided groups of the minor industrial groups.

5. Persons engaged

Persons engaged include all persons who are engaged in the business of the establishment as of July 1, 1999, excluding persons who do not receive payment, including payment in kind, from the establishment. However, family workers in the establishment of the individual proprietorship are included in the persons engaged, even if they were not paid wages or salaries.

Individual proprietors

They refer to proprietors of establishments who own and manage the business on their own account, and are not nominal owners.

Unpaid family workers They refer to family members of individual proprietors without wages or salaries. Family members who are working and getting as much income as employees are treated as regular employees or temporary employees.

Salaried directors They refer to salaried managers or directors of corporations or associations irrespective of the fact whether they are full-time or part-time workers. However, directors or managers who are currently working as regular members and receive payment on the same payroll as regular employees are excluded from this group and are classified as employees.

Regular employees They refer to employees engaged regularly in the business of establishments. Even if workers are temporary or daily employees, if they were contracted with an employment period of more than one month, or if they are employed for 18 days or more in each of the past two months, they are included in this category. Regular employees may be divided into two categories as follows: a) full-time employees and b) part-time employees (employees other than full-time employees).

Temporary or daily employees They refer to those other than regular employees, who are contracted with the employment period of not exceeding one month or who are employed on a daily basis.

Dispatched employees from other organizations They refer to those who are dispatched to work at the establishments concerned.

Subcontracted employees from other organizations They refer to those who come to the establishments concerned for subcontracted work.

6. Incorporated enterprise

An incorporated enterprise is composed of a head establishment and branch establishments under its management, or a head establishment without its branch establishments, and the legal organization includes a stock company, a limited company, a limited or unlimited liability partnership, and a mutual insurance company.

7. Industrial classification for enterprises

The industrial classification for an enterprise is determined by the nature of the main business activities of the company as a whole. The industrial classification for enterprises used here is the same one used for the establishment unit.

8. Capital

9. Major metropolitan areas

"Major metropolitan areas"consist of 7 major metropolitan areas (Sapporo, Sendai, Keihinyo, Chukyo, Keihanshin, Hiroshima and Kitakyushu-Fukuoka) and 4 metropolitan areas (Hamamatsu, Okayama, Kumamoto and Kagoshima). These areas were established based on the results of the 1995 Population Census of Japan. Each metropolitan area consists of a central city or central cities and the surrounding area (cities, towns and villages). These areas were adjusted according to the boundaries of municipalities as of July 1, 1999. In case that two or more central cities are located closely each other, the major metropolitan areas are not established separately but chained together such as Keihinyo (Ku-area of Tokyo-to, Yokohama, Kawasaki and Chiba), Keihanshin (Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe), Kitakyushu-Fukuoka. In addition to these major metropolitan areas, Keihin major metropolitan area (Ku-area of Tokyo-to, Yokohama and Kawasaki) is presented as a special count.

1) Central cities (a) The central cities of the major metropolitan areas are Ku-area of Tokyo-to and the cities designated by the Cabinet Order, namely, Sapporo, Sendai, Yokohama, Kawasaki, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Hiroshima, Kitakyushu and Fukuoka. (b) The central cities of the metropolitan areas are the cities with population of 500,000 or more which are not included in the major metropolitan areas.

(2) Surrounding areas (cities, towns and villages) Surrounding cities, towns and villages are those which meet the following conditions on the basis of the 1990 Population Census. (a) The number of resident workers and students who commute to the central cities accounts for 1.5% or more of its total resident population. (b) The city, town or village must be contiguous to the central city. Besides the above conditions, if a city, town or village is entirely surrounded by the central city or a municipality defined as one in the surrounding area, it is also considered as the surrounding area.